BS: Infrequently Asked Questions

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 01:05 PM

"So...didja read O.J.'s new book yet?"

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 01:01 PM

We ahve a lot of Poles in the UK, but, imho, Poland is where it always was.




      Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Cluin
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 07:59 PM

What does Seth McFarland have against John Mayer?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 04:25 AM

Most of Poland IS in the UK now, and it's still impossible to get a plumber.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 04:14 PM

And yes, I know that Poland's not in the UK.

I was riffin off a US joke, compliments of GWB. Maybe it's made it way worldwide by now.

But maybe not.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 04:10 PM

GUEST,Jonny Sunshine,

You forgot Poland.

;o)

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 09:59 AM

There's probably nothing to add that hasn't been mentioned already, but here we go..

Britain, England, UK, Great Britain, the British Isles, are have different meanings. It's all very confusing even for people who live there. Look at this which explains, with Venn Diagrams and all.

I can say with certainty and without fear of offending anyone that I live in England which is part of Great Britain, itself a part of the UK. Whether I describe myself as English or British would depend on whether I was talking about geography, nationality, culture. Of course it gets more complex with sports teams.

I always wash my hair first and use the suds for the rest, because if you wash the rest of your body first, those suds never go up..

"Naff"apparently is an acronym allegedly used in gay circles which means "Not Available For F***ing". Though this doesn't really tally with the meaning. Perhaps it's a backcronym, like "camp" (Known As Male Prostitute)

I have never known a CD to melt in the car, but I never leave them in there, so as not to tempt potential thieves with bad taste in music. Though what with the weather the chances of anything melting in my car are pretty remote.

That thign with moving your foot and drawing a 6 in the air, that's wierd..

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 01:32 PM

Snail, I sit corrected.

   Just to clarify one thing, the terms britain and Great Britain refer to the same lump of rock, Britain when talking about it geographically, G.B. when referring to it as a geopolitical unit.   




   Another IAQ - what am I aware of now, -   and now, -   and now, - and now??? etc.etc.etc.




       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 06:46 PM

When DonD asked "When the Fed pumped billions into the Market to prevent its collapse, how did that work? Whom did they actually give/loan it to?" I thought I'd try, although I'm not a practitioner in the area.

The summary seems to be that some institutions, categorised as 'bottom feeders', loaned money to people who hadn't much chance of paying it back. The bottom feeders financed their operations by borrowing from lenders 'higher up the food chain' and this procedure trailed all the way to the 'top of the market' institutions, who maintain their liquidity by borrowing between themselves. If you look at the chain from the top down rather than from the bottom up it's called 'distributing debt', progressively down to borrowers who are more and more risky at each level of descent; the 'bottom feeding lenders' are the "sub-prime market" that's gone 'bottom up' because the people who hadn't much chance of paying back their loans started not paying their instalments and defaulting.

When that happened the bottom feeders still needed finance to continue operating and sending their kids to school and buying their plasma screens but the institutions from whom they normally borrowed were finding money harder to get, because all the way up the trail everyone wanted to ensure they loaned only to people who could repay it. 'Credit became harder to get' in short and when demand exceeds supply, prices (the interest rates charged) go up. The quantity of money available in the system, to supply the required liquidity, was not enough to enable all the lenders/borrowers at the top of the chain to keep credit available.

So the French equivalent of the Federal Reserve in USA (and the Reserve Bank of Aust.) and other central banks injected money into the system by lending it to the top (and "secure") institutions, usually by selling them particular types of bonds at the wholesale interest rate. This gets paid back in the fullness of time and needs to be controlled to prevent the sort of inflation that occurred in 1930s Germany but, in the short term, it provides cash to lubricate the liquidity among the top banks, who then have some (slightly increased) ability to lend to the ones further down the chain.

A bit long and a bit 'quick and dirty' but I hope it helps.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: TheSnail
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 11:51 AM

I KNOW it doen't include the Isle of Man, that's my ancestral home, and the Channel Islands are off the coast of France. It depends how far you measure "outlying".

And the Dukedom of Burgundy (in Pimlico) was reunited with England in the same year.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 10:51 AM

Well get it reight right, snail.... only most of the outlying islands, not the Isle of Man.... that and the Channel Islands aren't part of the United Kingdom either. And Pimlico has been independent since 1949.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: TheSnail
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 10:32 AM

Since Strad has decided to get picky about autolycus's post of 04 Aug 07 - 10:50 AM, I thought I'd have a go too.

England,Wales and Scotland make up Britain. Add N.Ireland, and you have Great Britain. Add a few VITAL odds and sods and you have the United Kingdom.

This is wrong. The whole nation is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the countries England, Wales and Scotland with their outlying islands.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 09:14 AM

A 'hoodie' in todays terms is specifically one who wears a hooded top with the hood up and over their face, usually with a baseball cap underneath it, with the intention to make identification difficult. They are synonymous with youngsters who prowl shopping centres such as Bluewater (where they were banned) and Thurrock, both in the south east of the UK (Kent and Essex), looking for fights to pick, trouble to cause and designer labels to nick.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,Guest Strad
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 07:19 AM

Bristol has never been in Gloucestershire or Somerset. It currently is in the county of Avon but for all us traditionalists it is the City and County of Bristol.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 19 Aug 07 - 11:09 PM

I guess we shouldn't ask such an infrequently asked question, and just be grateful that they saved the 'Economy"!

No. Inquiring minds want to know. But will we ever really know what is really going on in places of power and why things happen the way they do?

I doubt it.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: DonD
Date: 19 Aug 07 - 09:49 PM

When the Fed pumped billions into the Market to prevent its collapse, how did that work? Whom did they actually give/loan it to? In this instance, what the hell is 'the Market'? Did a Fed rep go into the NY Stock Exchange and chuck lots of cash on the Floor? And what about Nasdeq that doesn't even have a floor or a building? And BTW, where did the Fed get all that money when we(US)'re so deep in hock to the tune of trillions already? I guess we shouldn't ask such an infrequently asked question, and just be grateful that they saved the 'Economy"!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 19 Aug 07 - 03:38 AM

Er - yes.







       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 10:42 PM

Is this an infrequently asked question?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 10:33 PM

"ignorami: The art of folding pieces of paper torn from mediaeval manuscripts?"

And there I was, thinking of oregano with a black belt!

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 07:29 PM

or maybe even, "How do you mean, the earth moved for you? How does that work?"





       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 05:28 PM

Infrequently Asked Questions:

"Was that as lousy for you as it was for me?"

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 05:23 PM

Hey Azizi,

Sorry,'course that's whay you meant - duh moment again.

Doin' good, losing teeth, getting well with my 20something daughters, learning the lessons of my therapy training, meeting nice people around here like you.

'Hoodies' are just youngsters wearing that sort of thing. Believed to be, in part, a way to deal with the virus that is cctv cameras. Not at all necessarily hoodlums, more about the clothing, tho' easily-frightened people ..............um, get frightened by them. Worn by kids from many backgrounds.

How you doin'? (or is that for a pm?






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 03:29 PM

Btw, Ivor, what are "hoodies?"

Is this the same thing as "hoodlums" meaning teens or young adults who are involved in {or who people think they are involved in} gangs or who engage in other anti-social behavior? Come to think of it, two words some Americans use as a referent for hoodlums are "gangbangers" and/or "hoods".

But in the USA "hoodies" are a type of sweatshirt. Here's a definition for "hoodie" that was posted on urbandictionary.com by by Sylense May 6, 2004 :

Hoodie
"sweatshirt with a hood and a very large pocket in front, capable of carrying, but not limited to, walkman and headphone, candy being smuggled into movie theatres, pencil and notebook, pet snake that your parents don't know about, and certain less-legal substances that you don't want people finding. Considered a signature by some, so not something you want anyone else in your area to have a similar one of. Worn around waist when too hot for otherwise, NEVER worn around neck, and if -for whatever reason- you're not wearing ANYTHING, they can be flung on the floor nearby wherever you are. Not generally meant for either sex, although if part of a couple, the dominant may prefer that the less-dominant wear his/her hoodie. If difficulty finding a unique hoodie, look in touristy shops next time you go on vacation

Yes, I KNOW I'm late, leave me alone!" she said, tightening her hoodie around her waist while frantically looking for her second boot.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoodie

**

Hoodies look like this.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 03:07 PM

Hey, Ivor!

Fyi, "What's happenin?" is a largely retired {at least among African Americans} colloquial greeting that basically means the same thing as "How are you?" and How'r ya doing and "What's up?"- meaning that these are frequently asked questions that are usually answered with a perfunctory remark like "Alright" or "Okay" or "Fine".

Though I don't at all mind you taking me literally, in day to day greetings, especially when people are greeting each other in a quick & in hurry kind of way, they don't usually share the good, bad and the ugly details of what is going on with them or what is going on in the world.

One response to "What's happenin? was- "Well, things have been rough but at least we're still in the land of the living".

That's my response today to that question.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 02:29 PM

well, Azizi, i just played Mahler 8 under Kubelik; it's cloudy here in sidewaystown Norwich; a lot of people have died in an earthquake in Peru; US banks have been given a lot of money because they didn't have enough !!!!!!!!!!!!!!; Japan's having a heatwave; and the people of Gloucester (or Tewksbury) have been having a protest march about plans to build loads more homes in flood-plains, not by hoodies, single mums, drug addicts or people on the dole, but builders, the government and other upright folk.

is that what you meant by 'What's happening?'? Or have I got the wrong end of the cheese?

Bestest of wishes to my first 'catter helper.






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 09:26 AM

Hi,Don(Wyziwyg)T . You wrote I believe that the answer to your second question lies in the essential difference between our cultures."

Which question was that? {wwhich is probably a frequently asked question}.

**

Hi autolycus.

What's happening?

**

I'm not even gonna ask what PMB meant by his 17 Aug 07 - 08:51 AM post. That used to be a very common nickname you know. But times change, and the association with Cheney is certainly not helping that nickname.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: TheSnail
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 06:46 AM

Don(Wyziwyg)T

The English have for centuries had a particular penchant for getting out and about and exploring the world at large (and, truth to tell, grabbing large chunks of it for their own), which of course is why America is America rather than New Spain.

Eh?

America is named for Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 06:31 AM

Hi Azizi,

We don't need to make heavy weather of this.

By "the outside world", I think we usually mean 'the world outside one's own country'.

If the English know a little more about the outside world than our American cousins, it's partly because we are a small country (so that the OW impinges on us; partly because we get a lot from the US, so we're aware of the OW that way; partly because we're not self-sufficient.

The US is far more self-sufficient (except in apple juice, apparently; oh, and maybe in oil?). Our cousins are also encouraged by many of the US institutions to believe that American is best in everything (and everything theat America is not best at doesn't get on the dial, e.g. formerly soccer), so who needs from the rest of the world. Except to teach them English, how to go WalMart, wear jeans, have democracy, and basically stop being different. So any lingering ignorance the average Joe (and Joess?) has about 'the outside world' is a lot based on a no-need-to-know basis.

Confusingly, the Americans are famed for travelling, especially to Europe as tourists, and, as in Shrub's case, for virtually never going abroad (as we wittily call it over here.)

Both the average English and Americans are pretty insular. Here, for example, there is sufficiently little about abroad on tv that I've heard of someone who thought there were no houses in Africa. That's because when Africa's countries get to the screen, it's usually about famine or war, so it is hard to tell from the goggle box that there is enormous development in that continent. And many get most of their, for want of a better word, 'knowledge', from the mass communications media.

Incidentally, anyone who "doesn't know anyone that ignorant of geography" is saying a lot about themselves and the types they attract to their circle. And the types they seive out. Unconsciously.







       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 02:07 PM

Hi Azizi.

I always use "suspect" and "suggest" rather than more positive terms, when I am expressing an opinion as opposed to stating a fact.

I believe that the answer to your second question lies in the essential difference between our cultures.

The English have for centuries had a particular penchant for getting out and about and exploring the world at large (and, truth to tell, grabbing large chunks of it for their own), which of course is why America is America rather than New Spain.

The Americans, on the contrary, have for many years tended toward isolationism. While allowing the people of the world at large to come to them, they were reluctant to become involved in what happened outside. Thus "Local" would be of greater interest than "Global".

As I said, purely my thoughts and opinions, and worth no more than whatever notice others choose to bestow.



Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 08:51 AM

Mine turns to the left...

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 09:49 PM

Oh, btw, and fwiw, when I and people I know refer to Washington, DC we usually say "DC". {pronounced "Dee See"}.

DC stands for the District of Columbia, but I don't know anyone who says "Washington, District of Columbia".

When we are referring to a place called "Washington", we mean the US state.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 09:44 PM

Don(Wyziwyg)T, with regard to your comment that

The English have often been accused of being insular in their attitude to the outside world, but I suspect that the average UK citizen has a greater knowledge of the outside world than his average American cousin, and also a greater interest in it.,
maybe, maybe not. I think it depends on the meaning of the term the outside world.

I see that you said "suspect" as I don't know how research could be done to determine whether what you say is true or not.

But-here's a question for you [an infrequently asked question, no less]- if what you suspect is true, what are the reasons why the average UK citizen has a greater knowledge of the outside world than his average American cousin?

The mass media?

The education system?

I'm curious to "hear" your response/s.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 05:09 PM

It seems to me that this is a purely American idiosyncrasy.

In the UK, if we hear Washington mentioned, the vast majority think first of Washington D.C. I would suggest that the only people who would not might be those who live within ten miles of Washington, County Durham, and even they would only assume the local reference if it was mentioned by local rather than national media.

The same would apply to most major cities.

In the US the first thought seems to be of the local place, even in the case of cities as large and important as London and Paris.

The English have often been accused of being insular in their attitude to the outside world, but I suspect that the average UK citizen has a greater knowledge of the outside world than his average American cousin, and also a greater interest in it.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,Keinstein
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 05:25 AM

ignorami: The art of folding pieces of paper torn from mediaeval manuscripts?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 06:44 PM

JiK and Ivor have just reminded me of some of the notions I encountered when I spent six months in Columbia, SC. In Oz, we're used to being distant from most of what people in other places regard as the centre of their various universes and we have to learn to understand 'where they're coming from', or at least where they think they're coming from. Having travelled in some interesting places outside Oz and even having visited some of the centres of the known universe (but not yet the USA) I was familiar with various notions of 'the centre vs the periphery' and how that affected both those people and my own sense of location.

It wasn't until I'd been in SC for a while that I became intimately aware of the particularly American version of Washington DC as the modern equivalent of Imperial Rome, with some aspects also of The Forbidden Palace in Beijing. It was only a couple of trivial items that pulled the scales from my eyes; both were part of the daily dead forest that lands on so many front porches in the US. One was describing Barossa Valley wines as the best wines from New Zealand and the other was a Lands End description of a woollen jumper (as we call them) as being made of the very finest Italian merino wool. For those not in the know, the Barossa Valley is just north of Adelaide in South Australia (I've not calculated how many thousand nautical miles west of New Zealand) and Italians wouldn't recognise a merino if it covered them (obscure agricultural jest) but they do buy our fine micron wool and spin really fine woollen yarn to make lovely clothes. Which they sell to the US and elsewhere. And most of the people reading the mail order catalogues know very little (and some care even less) where they come from so long as they can have them.

The same thing happened in Rome (the one with the Vatican) and is one of the marks of an imperial (not to suggest 'imperious') outlook. And before anyone gets too hot under the collar about my critique, which meant not unkindly, most Americans can't really be blamed. The social constructs by which they as individuals engage with the wider community highlight the local several orders of magnitude more powerfully than any engagement with the wider world outside USA. And this means it is very difficult for most of them (mere mortals like most of us) to come to grips with 'trivial' details of that outside world. And on top of that the differences in scale are huge; even in 1992 there were more military veterans (27 million, I recall) in the USA. That was almost 50% more than the entire population of Australia at that time.

So I suppose it's natural that not as many people in the USA as us outsiders might wish have the familiarity with and acceptance of the outside world that we say we'd like (and we've got our own ignorami too). Most 'catters I've read, by virtue of their interests in traditions and sources, I suspect, seem to be blessed. Long may it be so.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 12:48 PM

Regarding Rome, John; apart from US citizens who are Catholic, presumably.





       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 12 Aug 07 - 10:29 PM

London, England, and Paris, France is considered redundant ... ...

My DeLorme CD roadmap shows 17 "Londons" in the US in:

AL(2), AR, CA, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN(2), OH(2), PA, TN, TX, WI, WV.

Paris could mean any of 27 places in:

AR, CA, IA(3), ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NH, NY, OH(2), OR(2), PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI

Even Cairo and Rome each appears in 22 different places here.

For a large portion of the US population, when you say "Rome" without specific other qualification, it always means Rome, NY - the locale for Griffiss AFB, which is a major training, research, and maintenance base where, seemingly, everyone who's ever been in the US Air Force has "done some time."

John

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 12 Aug 07 - 06:15 PM

Autolycus, I suspect your "Was that too provocative or not provocative enough?" might qualify as an infrequently asked question, but I suggest your

"Hm?"
is one of the most frequently-asked questions going.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 12:10 PM

Was that too provocative or not provocative enough?


Hm?





      Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 05:52 PM

How far does the fault lie with the public?






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 06:27 PM

And spoil it?
Nah!

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 01:53 AM

Rowan - warn a body before you post stories like that one!!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 10:39 PM

A story from my days at Mawson was told about Repstat (the replacement for Wilkes that was later named Casey) was that the station doctor knew all the medical details of the (entirely male) expeditioners and consequently knew who was and who wasn't circumcised. Over drinks in the mess he frequently advertised his ability to perform such an operation with "I only charge a slab", meaning two dozen cans of (rationed) beer, the universal ANARE currency.

After a while and still early in the year, the cook decided to take him up on his offer, providing he could keep the detached item in a jar; "i'm out of circulation for the year anyway" was his justification. After the op. he kept the jar, labelled and preserving the item in ethanol, prominently displayed on a shelf in the kitchen. It became the subject of ongoing jokes.

The cook was also often the butt of jokes about his cooking ability until one evening, quite late in the year, when he served up a magnificent stew that was universally praised. When he was asked what he had done to improve his cooking he said nothing but just pointed to the shelf; the jar was there, in its usual place, but empty.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Amos
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 07:19 PM

I bet the surgeon was annoyed at losing his tip, though.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 06:23 PM

Thanks, Ivor; another of those senior moments I suspect.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 10:20 AM

rowan, you're the only one who can answer that.

   Unless it was 'cos they were both popular in the early - mid 50s.





       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: frogprince
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 09:30 AM

How long do they deep-fry the foreskins before they sack them up and label them as "pork rinds"?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Cluin
Date: 08 Aug 07 - 12:09 AM

What the hell is this?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 09:34 PM

So, my question is...

When a guy is born with one eye lid, what can be done?

art

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 09:31 PM

My friend was born with one eye lid. When he was circumcised they grafted it on. He's fine. Just a little cockeyed.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: frogprince
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 08:51 PM

Could you recommend a doctor who's good at adult circumcisions?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Amos
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 08:39 PM

Can my best girlfriend join us?

A

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 08:22 PM

Here's one which is very infrequently asked although I myself have asked it on two occasions, albeit many moons ago.   Once was at the "Mouse's Ear" in Knoxville and the other in a joint on North 41 in Orlando (both are "Table Dancing" establishments.

How about if I give you a ten spot to KEEP your clothes ON?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Cluin
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 07:54 PM

If they can send a man to the moon, how come they can't send a man to the moon anymore?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 06:32 PM

Thanks for setting me right Burl. Now, why would I confuse Frankie Laine wirh Guy Mitchell?

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 06:13 PM

YEAH!!!

**

I confess that when my first idea didn't work, I cheated by googling "HTML". Here's the website I found:

http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/reference/html_cheatsheet/

Not that it matters, but substituting parenthesis for brackets, here's the first idea that I used: beginning{r) and ending with (/r}

But, of course, this idea was WRONG!!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Cluin
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 06:10 PM

If you say London here in Ontario, you have to say London, England if that's what you mean. Otherwise we will think you are referring to London, Ont.

There is a Paris, Ontario as well, but it's a small town so no confusion would arise unless you lived near it.

And Berlin, Ontario changed its name to Kitchener many years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 05:56 PM

Nope.

Okay. Lemme try again.

Will this work?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 05:50 PM

A challenge?!


I'm not sure, but it seems logical that this HTML prompt would work.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: TheSnail
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 01:17 PM

Azizi

Okay. So that's what TheSnail meant in his 02 Aug 07 - 06:24 PM post

Yes. Sorry if I was a bit blunt but it's been a bit of a hobby horse with me since I was told off by an American for not saying which Lewes when I plugged an event in my home town. If I'd meant Lewes, Delaware, I'd have said so. Thanks George for explaining it so diplomatically.

In the meantime, here's a challenge for you.

Bryan the Snail

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 10:59 AM

Guy died 1999; Frankie died feb '07. frankie was also famous for singing the themes of the films High Noon and Blazing Saddles , a gentle self-parody.

This demonstrates another upside to getting older.



Infr.As.Qu.(to self) That thing I just/always criticise you for.            How am I like that?






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 08:53 AM

Hi Rowan, Ref Frankie Laine, I think you are confusing him with Guy Mitchell. It was Mitchell who sang 'She Wears Red Feathers' and 'One of the Roving Kind'. Frankie Laine was a big man with a big voice who had hits with songs like 'I Beleive' and 'Jezebel'. He was also known for singing the theme tunes to western movies such as 'Champion, The Wonder Horse'.    Guy Mitchell was a favourite of mine, His songs were folky in a pop sort of way and he had a high clear voice. Definitely different to most pop acts of the time. His 'Roving Kind' was indeed a version of the Fireship ballad. he was a little to early for the folk revival. Had he come along a bit later his voice and straight ahead style might have stood him well in folk music. Not sure, but I believe both men are dead now. Burl.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 08:22 AM

Oops!

I just re-read my comment "...the fact that London, England, and Paris, France is considered redundant.

Not to mention my incorrect grammar, I didn't mean to imply that those cities are "redundant". I meant that I had learned that when referring to these cities, giving the nation's name after the name of those specific cities is considered redundant {by folks in Europe, anyway}.

I hope that I didn't offend any folks who live in those cities.

Sorry for my misuse of the English language.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 08:12 AM

Here's some other questions that have occurred to me:

How many members does Mudcat have? Is there some place on this site that gives that information?

Also, how many members and regular guests actively post on this forum?

{I suppose there would have to be some agreement about what the meaning of active is. Say that means a person usually posts to a Mudcat thread at least twice a day, five days a week {though it seems to me that there are a number of Mudcat members and regular guests who do far more posting than that. I'm curious about how many members/regular guests would you say that is?}.

In addition, it seems that there are far more Mudcat members and Mudcat regular* guests who regularly post to the BS threads than who regularly posts to the music/above the line threads. Is that other people's sense, too?

*Sorry for all the "regulars" and "regularlies". But I couldn't think of another adjective to use.

I started posting on the Mudcat music threads and still post above the line about as much as I post to the BS threads. How 'bout you?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 07:58 AM

Moving right along, I'd like to say that its been interesting to learn the tidbits found in this thread about geographic names such as the pronunciation of geographic names, the use of European city names in the USA, Australia, & elsewhere, and the fact that London, England, and Paris, France is considered redundant.

Special thanks to Uncle_DaveO, autolycus, Rowan, Darowyn, DMcG, Celtaddict for their posts on this subject.

And if I forgot anyone who posted to this thread on this subject, I'm sorry. My thanks go to you, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 06:47 AM

Hip Hip Hooray!!!

I'm gonna have fun doing this. Learn a new skill! That's how yah keep the old brain cells alert or grow new ones!

**

Now they have this "policy" of not allowing anonymous posts, they are enforcing it with all the zeal of a teenage traffic warden who's just grown his first Hitler moustache, whether the post is helpful, neutral or abusive.

-snip-

Yep, PMB. It's sad* isn't it?

{That's a rhetorical question}

Hmmm. That could be the title of a whole 'nuther thread. Does someone wanna start that one? It might be interesting.

* These types of actions evoke other emotions in me in addition to "sad". But I'll refrain from going there now.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 06:28 AM

Thanks for the help, guys and gals!

Hopefully, I've gotten it right this time.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 03:38 AM

What happened to the post that gave the instructions for writing in in italics or bold font?

I forgot to sign it, though owned it a couple of posts down. Now they have this "policy" of not allowing anonymous posts, they are enforcing it with all the zeal of a teenage traffic warden who's just grown his first Hitler moustache, whether the post is helpful, neutral or abusive.

Nobody knows what problem the policy is supposed to solve, or how it solves it. But that's probably a frequently asked, though infrequently answered, question.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Amos
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 02:25 AM

Azizi:

Thing of the angle brackets as marking the containers. The front end bracket starts the effect (bold, underline, italic, strikeout, etc) and the bracket after the text ends the container. The only difference between the front and the back bracket is the front one contains just the letter b (or i or u or s) and the back one contains the same letter with a slash in front of it...NOT a backslash. This kind:/.

Start italics = i. End italics = /i.
Underline: u and /u.
Bold: b and /b.
Strikeout: s and /s.

Always putting them inside the angle brackets.

See?


A

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 01:09 AM

But MINE was in context to the thread title, and not just counting!

LTS : )

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: JennyO
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 12:34 AM

Yes Liz, but I got the 101 pinwheel with the little pin in the middle of the 0!

Meanwhile, for Azizi - Here ya go!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 12:28 AM

Did I get 100?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: JennyO
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 12:19 AM

First of all, your slash was going the wrong way.

Second of all, you have to have something at the beginning and something at the end of the section you want in italics or bold.

I'll show it with round ( ) brackets, but you substitute < > brackets when doing it:

(i)If I was using the right brackets, this would be in italics.(/i)

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 06:42 PM

Hmmm. Okay. So I'm a slow learner.

So, what did I do wrong?

{Btw, that's a frequently asked question}.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 06:38 PM

<\b>YEAH!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 06:34 PM

Dave, you wrote "To close italics, use "/i" instead of "i" within the brackets". And then you wrote "To close italics, use "/i" instead of "i" within the brackets".

I vaguely recall PMB's instructions saying something about a \ dash being use to open italics-and also something about the brackets. Then I seem to recall PMB's post-wherever it is-mentioning something about using brackets and the / thingy at the end.

Am I understanding you correctly that brackets aren't used at the end of the HTML italic command? I think it's that "instead" word that is confusing me.

Following your directions, I'd write:

Rhode Island's full name is 'The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation'

Will this work? Let's see.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 05:25 PM

Azizi:

To open italics, as you already know, you use (i), except that you use the left angle bracket for the ( and the right angle bracket for the ).

To close italics, use "/i" instead of "i" within the brackets.

To make bold lettering, you use a "b" within the angle brackets, and to end bold you use "/b" within the brackets.

That's about all I know about HTML markups.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 05:06 PM

What happened to the post that gave the instructions for writing in in italics or bold font?

I know it was here this morning, and now POOF!

I can't remember the instructions. Would PMB or Amos or someone else please re-post those instructions?

Thanks in advance!

Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Amos
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 04:08 PM

Aziz:

The end italics bracket you put in was supposed to contain a "/" and you used a "\".


A

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Celtaddict
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 03:30 PM

For no good reason, back to geographic names.
Rhode Island's full name is 'The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation' and it has no counties.
Louisiana has state parishes rather than counties.
A 'county' in most of the U.S. is an administrative region but is not part of an address and is rarely used in describing where something is, largely because outside the county most people will not know where it is. A 'county' in Ireland seems to function rather like a 'state' in the U.S. not so much in government terms but in describing where places are.
Re: 'London, England': I had always heard this and thought it sounded a bit redundant (as does 'Paris, France') but in the U.S. only the largest cities are mentioned without a state attached. I was very tickled to see a flyer for a sea music festival in Hull mentioning the headliner 'Geoff Kaufman, from Mystic, USA.' I suspect most people in the USA would have been puzzled.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 07:47 AM

Okay! Thanks, PMB!

It's off to work I go. So I'll get up my courage and try all those instructions later.

Meanwhile, to paraphrase a 1970s or so phrase, "Write on!"

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 07:32 AM

Guest, or somebody! Help!

What did I do wrong in my 06 Aug 07 - 07:23 AM post?

I only wanted George's statement to be in italics.

And why did the symbol thingy show?

{If anyone answers these questions, I won't be able to respond until after work since for some reason, my employer put Mudcat behind a firewall {or whatever} and I {and I presume anyone else who works there}can't get access to it. I haven't a clue why they would do that. But since I really don't have time at work to read or post on the Mudcat, it's just as well.

I'm curious if Mudcat off-limits to anyone else at their work place?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 07:28 AM

Sorry, I was the GUEST above, forgot to sign... Read on Azizi... to turn off, write the same as you used to start it except that you put a forward slash (/) before the i.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 07:24 AM

Well, it worked in part.

But now that I have the italic thingy working, how do I turn it off?

For instance, will this be written in italics? Let's see.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 07:23 AM

Thanks, Guest. I'm gonna get up my nerve to try your directions.

Azizi, it's all right; confess. You will feel so much better afterwards:-)<\i>

That's easy for you to say...And difficult for me to write.

{Okay, I'mma see if it worked...right NOW!}

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,DMG
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 04:42 AM

There was an infrequently given answer we heard once in the office that became a frequently given answer for a while.

We telephoned a company and asked if Mr X was in the office. "Not as such" came the response.

... Not "no", or "Sorry, he's not available" or anything like that. We spent an age trying to decide what the situation was that might make "not as such" the best response. Then it became a challenge to work that response into the conversation.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 04:35 AM

In Britain, to say to someone "you bastard" is the grossest of insults

Round these parts, they can come up with some rather grosser insults than that.

How do folks post their comments in italics on this forum? Just like that...

But serriusly- Do a left caret <
Follow it by a lower- case i
Then a right caret >
That starts the section. But don't forget to finish it with a left caret <
then a forward slash followed by a lower case i: /i
then a right caret >

You can do bold bits the same way, using b instead of i

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 02:48 AM

Here goes a confession. Art, I do - specifically I use the suds from the hais shampoo as a "first wash" for face, neck and underarm, as a way to get the first layer of grime off; to be followed by a soap wash.

Azizi, it's all right; confess. You will feel so much better afterwards:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 01:34 AM

Azizi, Frankie Laine was a singer (whom I've always thought of as American) popular in the 50s and early 60s. Although he was probably more famous in other peoples' minds for other songs, I always associate him with
"She wears red feathers and a hula hula skirt" and one version of the Deptford/Ratcliffe Highway genre cautioning young men about fireships;
"She had a dark and a roving eye, and her hair hung down in ring - lets"

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 12:44 AM

Here's a question: what is "hmodesty?"

Here's the answer- a typo.

Sorry 'bout that. Any other typos in that post will have to take care of themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 12:42 AM

Hey folks! What's happenin?!

From the looks of this thread: BS: Frequently asked questions and this one: BS: Frequently given answers
it seems that some folks on Mudcat are real interested in asking questions.

Good for them. I mean good for us! For to {with all hmodesty} I would like to quote myself and say " I also thought {and still think} that a thread for "infrequently asked questions" [and frequently asked questions and frequently given answers] is a good idea since I figured other people might also have questions and those questions and their responses would be compiled together in one easily accessible thread."

**

Here's a question that I've been meaning to ask: How do folks post their comments in italics on this forum?


**

Art Thieme, in answer to your 05 Aug 07 - 05:27 PM question:
Not me. Or at least I'm not gonna admit to doing that out in public...Um..I mean..Not that I do that in public..I mean who does? Well, anyway, you know what I mean. :o)

**

And may I say that I am shocked and oh so very disappointed that no one-not a soul among you-knew the correct answer for the contest question that I posed in one of my posts upthread. To wit, I asked which 1970ish GROUP recorded a song that had the lines "There Must Be A Reason Why. I Don't Know".

Thanks, Peace, for trying. But sorry, you gave the wrong answer.
Or, at least it's not the answer I was looking for. {And here's a question, who is Frankie Laine? That name sounds familiar. But what kind of music does he sing? I'm assuming this singer is a he, but I'm not gonna bet the farm that I don't own anyway on that assumption. I think Frankie Laine is a crooner, whatever that means}

So since nobody knew the answer to that contest question or if he or she did know the answer he or she didn't care to share that answer with us on this public forum, I guess I have to keep the really super duper prize for another contest whenever that may occur. Yeah Yeah I know. There is no prize, super duper or otherwise. Maybe that's why you guys and gals didn't wanna guess which GROUP I was thinking of.

And it's kinda ironic that Peace was the only one who tried to guess who recorded that song, since the name of the group that I was thinking of is WAR

How's that for synchronicity?

LOL!

Best wishes to all and to all a good day!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 05 Aug 07 - 05:27 PM

Which Mudcatters, when taking a shower, wash their hair first and then use the suds to wash the rest of their body to save time or whatever?

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:46 PM

frogprince, the same has occurred in Oz. There are polite circles and there ones in which we feel comfortable about expressing ourselves freely.

In Britain, to say to someone "you bastard" is the grossest of insults and I believe it is a challenge in the British military to a formal fight. In Oz it often part of a freindly greeting. This confused hell out of Pommy migrants, who often received "You old Pommy bastard" as a freindly greeting but sometimes as a pejorative. It was always in the tone of voice and the level of presumed familiarity.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:31 PM

Just skimmed this thread for the first time. Regarding "bugger": Did I miss anyone noting that "buggery" is an old term for anal sex? I've never encountered it outside old literature, or heard anyone refer to it literally, except once.
I spent about a year in Canada 30 years ago. I happened to refer to someone's cute little kid as "a cute little bugger". An old church deacon took me aside afterward, and told me that what I said could be taken as a gross insult; I was calling the kid a "Sodomite". I've probably called kids that at least a few time since anyway, and I've never seen anyone blink or faint.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:28 PM

Way earlier, the question about 'Why "Paris, France" rather than "Paris, Texas"?' prompted me to root around in the back of an atlas I had at home. Living in a part of Australia known as New England, I'm well aware of how names from the colonising country get transferred to the colonised one. I stopped at Abingdon but, at that point I'd already seen:

Abbotsford; 1 in each of Scotland, Sth Africa, Aust., British Columbia and Wisconsin,
Aberdeen; Scotland (of course), Sth Africa, Canada, Hong Kong, Aust. (all 1 each) and 6 in USA, and
Abingdon; England (the original, near Oxford), 1 each in NSW & Qld, and 3 in USA.

Within a couple of hours' drive of my home in New England (Oz) I have the following 'foreign' place names:
Abingdon; (as above),
Armidale; the original (Armadale) is in Scotland but there are 2 others in Melbourne and Perth (Oz),
Ben Lomond (again, from Scotland),
Dundee; (ditto) but there are others in Sth Africa, Michigan, NY and Texas,
Glencoe; (ditto but as Glen Coe) with others in Canada, Sth Africa, Alabama, Minnesota & New Mexico,
Invergowrie; (ditto),
Kingstown: (original from Cumbria &/or Irish Republic) but also in the West Indies,
Lismore (if I drive fast); (originals in Scotland and Ireland) but also in Canada,
Malpas; (original in England) but 2 in Oz,
Manilla; (original in Spain) but another in Iowa, and
Tamworth; (originals in England) but also in Canada

And there's also (within the same distance):
Bolivia; with another in N Carolina
Kentucky; a town (hamlet, really) rather than a Commonwealth parading as a State, and
Texas; with another in Maryland.

Not to mention Yarrowyck, which also has (in the same Shire) another locality, Yarrowitch; This confuses lots of people.

I wasn't surprised at us having lots of UK (OK, it WAS Great Britain at the time) names and I'm aware of how migrations between goldfields across the globe transferred all sorts of names, but I found the other occurrences interesting.

And the foot-hand coordination thingy (of which there are several) is to do with both learned behaviour and neurological interconnections.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 07:15 PM

Mickey191, I tried it and it worked. But after the third "6" my shoe fell off.

I don't think I'll try again.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 04:57 PM

Darowyn asked:

Is there any reason why Arkansas and Kansas don't rhyme?

I don't know that, just as I don't know why the state is "AR-kan-saw" but the Arkansas River is the "Ar-KAN-sas River".

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Peace
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 03:56 PM

"There must be a reason why. I don't know".*

Frankie Laine?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Cluin
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 03:36 PM

Where is the washroom?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Darowyn
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 03:07 PM

Is there any reason why Arkansas and Kansas don't rhyme?
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 01:51 PM

The most infrequently asked questions, by definition, would probably include some that will never be asked on this thread...

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 01:27 PM

I stand corrected. Mickey 191 is closer, so it's puh KIP sie, not puh KEEP sie.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Emma B
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 11:36 AM

"Yonks" is given as a common slang word in both Australia and New Zealand too meaning "years"

One explanation I've seen is that it is derived from "Donkey's years" as in I haven't seen her for donkeys y/ears (long!) - but ......who knows?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 10:51 AM

That should have read 'was noted by 1968'. :-)


    Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: autolycus
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 10:50 AM

Hi Azizi, glad to offer this to you.

Bristol is in Gloucestershire and Birmingham in Warwickshire, and that's the way we'd put it here in the UK. London may be the only british city not in a county.

England,Wales and Scotland make up Britain. Add N.Ireland, and you have Great Britain. Add a few VITAL odds and sods and you have the United Kingdom. So the Uk Prime Minister, e.g., is technically in error talking about 'our country' when he should be saying 'our kingdon'.

Add the Republic of Ireland and you have The British Isles.

We say Norwich in Norfolk, rather than Norwich, Norfolk, except on envelopes. Ditto London, England.

There are a large number of areas,boroughs and suburbs in London - Notting Hill, Golders Green, Wandsworth, East Ham, Wanstead, Wimbledon etc.etc. So after the road/street name, you might have Wandsworth,London (post code, like SE2 5PP).

The name Wandsworth gave rise to a sweet joke about a semi-literate announcing he's going to read Daffodils by William Wandsworth.

'Poms' is meant varyingly nicely except when the ire of the Aussies is up and we become 'wingeing Poms',i.e. complaining Brits. IMO, a correct character identification. A lot of Brits will complain to ANYBODY EXCEPT anyone who can do anything about it. Cos they think nothing will result from doing that.




I'd like to know the origin of 'yonks', as in, 'That was yonks ago'.

I know only that it was not in GB by 1968.






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,Diesel
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 10:33 AM

The term 'Busking' - I assumed it was a commonplace until asked above.. Never did wonder where the word came from - until now - so off to Wikipedia for the answer (I claim no prise as I hed to get it from elsewhere..) Nut if 'busking' as a term is not used in the states - what is the equivalent word ?

Rgds

Diesel

From Wiki;
'These performers have not always been called buskers. The term busking was first noted in the English language around the middle 1860s. The word busk comes from the Spanish root word buscar, meaning "to seek" – buskers are literally seeking fame and fortune.[5][6] In obsolete French it evolved to busquer for "seek, prowl" and was generally used to describe prostitutes. In Italian it evolved to buscare which meant "procure, gain" and in Italy buskers are currently called buscarsi.

From the Renaissance to the early 1900s, busking was called minstrelsy in Europe and English-speaking lands. Before that, itinerant musicians were known by the French term troubadours. In old French the term jongleurs was also used to describe buskers. In northern France they were known as trouveres. In old German buskers were known as minnesingers and spielleute. The term busk is also used in music when a musician has to play something quickly from scratch, by ear or at sight, as in: I'll just busk it.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Emma B
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 10:22 AM

At the moment this thread is adjacent to the Vocabulary tester one.

Looking up the origins of caucus I found that it is originally an Algonkian word and so is "mugwump"!

How many other words have been "taken over" by writers?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Emma B
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 10:07 AM

In a caucus race

everyone gets a prize!

Now Mr Google tells me that cawcawwassough is an Indian word from which we derive the meaning of a closed political meeting but I think I prefer Lewis Carrol's version

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 09:59 AM

I gotta ease on down the road for a bit.

If someone answers the question right, would somebody else give that person his or her congratulations? And would somebody give the FIRST person to answer that question her or his prize?

Oh. That's right. I forgot. There is no prize except a public acknowledgement that you "got it goin on". In other words, "You're the bomb! or "You're one smart cookie"...

{Substitute the expression you're most familiar with that means that a person has done a good job remembering that bit of trivia}.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 09:47 AM

Okay, I see what you mean about your foot changing directions.

"There must be a reason why. I don't know".*

* Here's another "contest" question for yah- Who knows the name of the 1970ish group that recorded a song that included this line?

**

Speaking of changing directions, I want to amend my previous comments about going off-topic in this thread. The beauty of this thread is that there is no set topic, so it's kinda hard to say that a person is going off-topic.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 09:35 AM

Mickey191,

Okay, I'll try that excercise. But,for some reason, I'd prefer to draw any number but 6. I'm kinda supersitious that way. I'll try it with the number 8. For some reason, I like that number the best.

:o)

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 09:33 AM

JennyO, thanks for posting that commercial. I can see the humor {or humour} in it. But I don't think that television stations would be permitted to air such a commercial here, given the puritanical nature of many Americans. I think that a comparable saying for "bugger" in the USA is "Oh sh**!" I mean, I rarely curse, and I can't even bring myself to write down that word, let alone say it in public or private. But I don't cringe when I write down "bugger" because that word reminds me of bugs and not crap.

I'm curious if other UnitedStaters think that a commercial like that Australian one would be accepted in this country.

**

Jeri, I can identify with your last statement that "Personally, I just blurt out questions about things in a thread IN the thread, because sometimes, context matters. Then again, if there's a subsequent significant digression, oops."

The reason why I started this thread was that sometimes I have questions about things that are mentioned in a thread, or the general topic of a thread, but I don't want to blurt out the question because it would interrupt the flow of the discussion.

I also thought {and still think} that a thread for "infrequently asked questions" is a good idea since I figured other people might also have questions and those questions and their responses would be compiled together in one easily accessible thread. Of course, I didn't consider that I {and others I might add} would go off-topic in this thread, too. Though it beats me why I didn't think about that since going off topic is nothing new to me :o}

Anyway, I've found the discussion interesting thus far, and look forward to more interesting, quirky, insightful, and not terribly serious discussion to come.

**

On that note, since I've come across this word on Mudcat, I've been wanting to ask this question- I've read some posts about "busking" and I found threads like this one: thread.cfm?threadid=51852#1229059 Any tips for a newbie street busker??

I believe that "busking" means playing an instrument, singing, dancing [?] or otherwise performing in public for money from people who happen to be passing by. Is that right? And I've seen some street entertainers in various American cities I've been to, though they are rare in my adopted city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I have the sense that busking may be illegal or at least discouraged in this city, and other cities. Is this not the case in the UK?

Also, I'm curious to know where the word "busking" and the phrase "street busker" comes from. And is this term used in other places besides the UK? And is there a comparable term for busker besides "street entertainer who wants people to give some money to him/her for his/her entertainment" in the USA?

Thanks in advance to anyone {or to "any twos or threes"} for your response/s to these questions.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Mickey191
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 09:08 AM

New Question-New Subject: An exercise in futility-

1.-While sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2.-Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction.

WHY?????

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:54 AM

George, if it's a new one on you and you enjoyed it, I'm glad I posted it then.

When John watched it, he said it explained a birthday card someone gave him a few years ago, with a picture of the dog saying "Bugger!". Apparently, never having seen the ad at that time, the humour of the card was lost on him. He gets it now :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Jeri
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:11 AM

The commonwealth in New England is Massachusetts.

Bob Bolton posted the words and tune to "The Pommies' Lament" in 1998, and in that thread, wrote,

"BTW, Pommy is an Australianism for an English person. There is controversy about whether it derives from POME - allegedly "Prisoner Of Mother England" ... shown on immigration records or else from contracting Pomegranate ... in reference to the sunburned faces of new chums."

(Found on a filter search for 'pom'.

Personally, I just blurt out questions about things in a thread IN the thread, because sometimes, context matters. Then again, if there's a subsequent significant digression, oops.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 07:33 AM

No, new one on us!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 06:30 AM

George, had you seen that ad before? I mentioned finding it to John a few minutes ago and was amazed to find he'd never seen it before either. So I showed it to him and he pi$$ed himself laughing too!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 05:14 AM

Thanks JennyO, we fair pi$$ed ourselves laughing at the Toyota ad with Nessie!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: DMcG
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 03:24 AM

While on the subject of 'UK' and 'England', you might want to scan Wikipedia's entry on terminology (but notice also that even these terms are not universally agreed especially regarding Ireland). There are also some places, like the Isle of Man, that don't necessarily fit in these catagories quite where you might expect them.

The upside for visitors to the UK is that few of us residents fully understand the subtleties either!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 03:08 AM

While on the subject of "bugger" - we use it to mean "damn" in Oz too. In fact, it was pretty much the only word used in a well-known and popular commercial for the Toyota Hilux ute a few years back.

Here's a video: Bugger!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 11:14 PM

Becca72 has it right, in the UK "bugger" as an exclamation means "damn".

By the way, here's something from Wikipedia about the word "Pom" referring to the English:

Quote: The Oxford English Dictionary has recently come out strongly in support of the word being a contraction, listing "pom" and "pommy" under its entry for "pomegranate". A supporting quotation from the Bulletin (Sydney) 14 November 1912: "The other day a Pummy Grant (assisted immigrant) was handed a bridle and told to catch a horse." Unquote

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 10:21 PM

Dave, Pennsylvania is a commonwealth too.

**

How did this thread become one that contains information about how words are pronounced? However it happened, I'm lovin it!

**
When I first came to Pittsburgh, I thought that the people here sounded like they were from the South. They definitely spoke different than I did. I know that people here thought I had an accent because they would comment about it and ask me where I was from . The fact that I said "soda" instead of "pop" and "Nu Yaak" instead of "New York" {among other words} were dead give-aways that I wasn't born in the Burgh.

Now-after living here for 35 years-I can't hear my accent. And when I go home to Atlantic City, New Jersey, I can't hear the difference between how I sound and how they sound or how we sound and how people in Pittsburgh sound. What happened to that Southern accent that I used to hear? I guess I grew accustomed to it and it just sounds "regular" now.


But Pittsburgh does have its own special way of talking and its own words and phrases for things. Check out this website: http://www.sesraw.com/Birdra/pitt.htm

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 09:49 PM

"Bristol is an English city. {or a British city, or a city in the UK}"

All of the above.

Indiana has a lot of old-world names, often pronounced in ways that would puzzle old-worlders.

Milan, Indiana, is "MY-lun". Lafayette, Indiana, often comes out of uneducated mouths as "Lay-fee-ETTE".   Versailles, Indiana, is always "Ver-SALES".

And Indianapolis usually comes out "In-n-NAP-luhs".   And the big city in the political division to our south, on the Ohio River, is neither Lou-is-ville nor Lou-ee-ville, but "Lou-uh-vl", sort of rolled around in the mouth to the point where the "vl" is almost "wl".

And when I speak of "the political division to our south", I do not speak of the State of Kentucky. There IS no State of Kentucky. It's "the Commonwealth of Kentucky", influenced no doubt by "the Commonwealth of Virginia". Seems to me there's a commonwealth in New England too, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now.

And, not to neglect city names on the East Coast of the US, that great city in Maryland named for Lord Baltimore is locally "BAWL-mr" or "BAHL-mr".

You always wanted to know these things, I'm sure.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 08:05 PM

Rowan-or anyone else who knows, how did British people come to be called "Poms?"

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 07:52 PM

Pronunciation of locality names can be fraught with traps. Coming from Melbourne (for the sake of the current thread) I, like all the other Melbournites, pronounced it Melb'n; it was only American visitors who pronounced it carefully the way it was written. On another thread there was, a while ago in a discussion on the antibiotic properties of honey, reference to manuka. This is the common (New Zealand) name for a species of tea tree and also the name of a Canberra suburb. The uninitiated pronounce it Mah New ka (emphasis on the second syllable) but locals and New Zealanders pronounce it Mah ne ka, with the stress on the first syllable and the second almost lost.

Then again, ever since Queen Liz (E II for Poms but E I for Australians) pronounced the name of the city Can BERR a on her first visit there (when the city was quite young and full of public servants) there has been a debate about the priority of that pronunciation over the more common CAN b'rra.

Again, northern NSW and the Northern Territory each have a town named Wauchope; in NSW it's pronounced War Hope but in the NT it's pronounced Walk Up.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 07:15 PM

Here's a question "What does "Britlike the serovei" mean?

And here's the answer-Nothing. It's just a poor cut & paste job.

I guess I'm lucky that I didn't forget to delete the name of my bestest most secret admirer.

You'd never guess who is it. So don't even try. 'Cause even if you did guess, I wouldn't be able to confirm that you're right cause then it wouldn't be a secret any longer.

So mums the word.

Though I can't imagine what my mum has to do any of this.

Moving right along, does anyone else have any questions that he or she wants to share?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 07:05 PM

"In Europe it is part of the stateside visitor's caricature that they should refer to "London, England" etc. "

Oh. Um. So that's the way it goes, hm?

Okay. So that's what TheSnail meant in his 02 Aug 07 - 06:24 PM post when he {I think he's a he. If not, excuse me} wrote:

"I would have thought that London didn't need to have any qualification at all having been the only one for about 1400 years"
-snip-

Okay. I think.

Well, that's one mistake I won't make if and when I visit Europe.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:57 PM

WOW!

I'm so SORRY, Becca72!

I don't know how I missed your post. I know I need glasses sometimes but that's crazy.

So that means that the winner that was announced was actually not the winner so he has to give back the title and his prize-

Oh that's right. There was no prize.

Well, CONGRATULATIONS to our REAL winner, Becca72.

Give that girl a hand

[and please hold the jokes that might come as a result of that line].

So do people say bugger in the USA as much as it seems that word is used in Europe? And what about "bloody" as an adjective Britlike the serovei

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Becca72
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:49 PM

I believe in this case he said it because my post beat his to the correct answer by a millisecond...and I always understood it to be more like "damn".

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:46 PM

Why do folks over the pond say bugger? I don't think that folks in the USA say "bugger". I know the word "bugged" has several meanings, but "bugger"??

And what does "bugger" mean, anyway? I thought it meant something like a more adult "Shucks" but I can't figure out why you'd say it in that post.

???

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:41 PM

DING!!! DING!!! Ding!!!

We got ourselves a winner!

Good job, George!

And your prize is....

Darn if I know.

But congratulations, anyway!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:40 PM

bugger...

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:39 PM

Paul Lynde in "Bye bye, birdie"!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Becca72
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:38 PM

It was Bye Bye Birdie and Paul Linde (sp?), wasn't it? I didn't cheat, so I could be wrong!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:37 PM

On the subject of naming UK (and indeed generally European) cities, one should not follow it up with the name of the country, or the name of the county etc. The idea being that, as this is the "old world", the cities (and names) here are the "original" ones and require no other qualification. The capital of Great Britain (and England) is London. That's it. Nothing else. And Cardiff, Birmingham, Athens, Paris etc require no further definition.

Subsequently built towns and cities in the New World named after those original "old world" places are differentiated by using the name of the state/county etc as appropriate.

And so, Birmingham is distinguished from Birmingham, Alabama; and Paris from Paris, Texas.

In Europe it is part of the stateside visitor's caricature that they should refer to "London, England" etc.

Subject: Lyr Add: KIDS (from Bye Bye Birdie)
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 06:06 PM

Seriousness is as seriousness does. And for some reason, I just don't wanna be that serious tonight.

So, that said, I give you fair warning that I'm gonna post a song in this here little ole BS thread-

And heeeerre it is!

Kids!
I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!
Kids!
Who can understand anything they say?
Kids!
They a disobedient, disrespectful oafs!
Noisy, crazy, dirty, lazy, loafers!
While we're on the subject:
Kids!
You can talk and talk till your face is blue!
Kids!
But they still just do what they want to do!
Why can't they be like we were,
Perfect in every way?
What's the matter with kids today?
Kids!
I've tried to raise him the best I could
Kids! Kids!
Laughing, singing, dancing, grinning, morons!
And while we're on the subject!
Kids! They are just impossible to control!
Kids! With their awful clothes and their rock an' roll!
Why can't they dance like we did
What's wrong with Sammy Caine?
What's the matter with kids today!

-snip-

Who knows the name of the musical that this song comes from AND the name of the actor or actress who sang it?

No fair using a search engine...

Oh, what the heck. Go ahead and google this question. After all, it's not like this is a real contest.

This is just a Mudcat thread. Right? Right!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 05:02 PM

Where does America gets new talent to staff and front for the American Ruling class?

In a world collaterally damaged by the magic of money and the miracal of science, no question gets asked more often than the use of America's wealth and power.

To what ends do the wealth of the Wall Street Banks and the force of the Pentagon's collosal weapons. Where does America get its wisdom to play with its wonderful toys?

The questions touch upon the nature of America's ruling class/
IF the question is too hard it is because we like to pretend there is no such thing as the American ruling class that has ever darkened an American shore or howled at the dark of an American moon.

It has always been the American Ruling class who ultimately buys the President, laws and new talent to further their ability to get more money for power and get more power to protect their money.

Must one sell out to do well? Must one subvert the ruling class to do GOOD? Will we overcome?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????!

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 04:45 PM

I can't give historical precedents, but on the subject of "bread and butter pickles" (way back up there) I can attest that as a kid when we got hungry we got a slice of bread, slathered it with butter, and laid a layer or two of "b&b pickles" on it. About the only way they were consumed was in "pickle sandwiches." One might have used them on hotdogs or hamburgers, but in that time we seldom had meat of any kind, except home-grown chickens.

The difference in how they were made has been described, but it should be noted that while with most kinds of pickles an attempt is made to have them "crisp" the bread and butter ones are pretty much "limp" and shouldn't snap when you bite into them. They generally - at least as my family made them - were much less "tart" than the commercial imitations I find at the grocers now.

Essentially, they were preserved sweetened wilted cucumbers.

(A rare, but delectable, treat was made by substituting watermelon rind bits in the bread and butter pickle recipe, but we couldn't afford many watermelons either.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 02:48 PM

Why did Otis but his testicles on the barbecue grill and smother them with A-1 sauce?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: gnu
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 02:35 PM

Seeum.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 02:16 PM

My question - how do you pronounce Liam and Gervaise?
Lee Um
Jur Vace (rhymes with face)

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Mickey191
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 10:28 AM

leeneia, Living 20 miles from Poughkeepsie - I've never heard the accent on "keep" (with long ees)
I've heard the natives always pronounce it puh-KIP-see.

When I first moved to this area, the locals always said "I'm going to The City." I was surprised to learn they were NOT referring to Manhattan-but Poughkeepsie.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 09:30 AM

'how do you pronounce Poughkeepsie? Des Moines? Saint Louis?'

Poughkeepsie - puh KEEP see

Des Moines - deh (short e) MOYNE

St. Louis - Saint LEWis, unless you are singing the old song "Saint Louie Blues"

By the way, the s on Illinois, like the s on Des Moines, is silent.
=======

My question - how do you pronounce Liam and Gervaise?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,Mingulay at work
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 09:01 AM

There's also a New York in Lincolnshire, England, just to add to the confusion. Not to mention Washington, Boston etc.

My question is "Why do many Americans refer to motor cars as vee-hickles"?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 04:04 AM

Well here's my question: how do you pronounce Poughkeepsie? Des Moines? Saint Louis?

As for British suburbs, they were often named, like American ones, after other British places... so there's a Wapping in Liverpool, a Soho in Birmingham, and a Hackney in Matlock, all of which names were originally associated with London. There's also a New Zealand in Derbyshire, which according to urban legend became famous some years ago when an escaped wallaby was run over by a car there. The driver called the police, who asked him for details. Convincing the Derbyshire police that he'd run over a wallaby in New Zealand wasn't easy.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 03:42 AM

Um...what is a decade? Oh..well um..it woulda been more accurate for me to say that I'm still influenced by a little more than 4 decades old high school book learnin.

I know that we're supposed to get wiser as we age, but it's also wise not to age yourself before your time.

**

Dave, thanks for that information on area names for British cities. I appreciate your response.

**

Mickey191, you're welcome. While I don't have 8 tracks tapes anymore, and I don't have a record player [which later became known as a turn table] so I can't play my records, I still play my casette tapes and my CDs. But I figure that once I learn how to do this Ipod thingamajig, I'll mostly be using my CDs to add to the songs in the Ipod and probably won't be playing my tapes much after that. But who knows what will be the new way to store and record music five years from now? Actually, I bet that something newer and better [?] will probably be foisted upon us long before five years.

I should have known times they were achangin about 15 years ago when I went into a record store and asked the twenty-something year old salesman where I could find those plastic disc like thingies that go in the middle of a 45 record so it will play on a turn table. And the salesman looked at me blankly and said "What's a 45?

Nuff said.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Darowyn
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 03:15 AM

Area names in British cities are mostly remnants of the villages and small towns that have been swallowed up by the expansion of adjacent cities. Some of them still retain village-like characteristics.
Areas of London, such as Chelsea, Soho, Westminster etc. are all good examples.
Other areas in other towns are called after the geographical features which used to be their way they were referred to before the brick and concrete arrived. Goldenhill (Stoke on Trent) or Oakwood(Leeds) are two like that. Less often, areas are called after their aristocratic former Landlords or after their home estates. Thus Carnaby Street and Burlington arcade in London have names that refer to a little fishing town in East Yorkshire, which is where their former owner's aristocratic title originated- Bridlington.
British names are history. There is a place near me called British Camp.
The British bit refers to the Britons who resisted the Roman occupation two thousand years ago.
cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 03:14 AM

Hello, Rowan!

I take it that "Poms" means the British? I wonder where that nickname came from... I suppose it's a relatively friendly nickname-though that may depend on the tone of voice one uses when saying it. I got the sense that you were not being insulting when you wrote "Poms"...

With regard to the words I used to describe communities within a larger community, I suppose that "boroughs" is the correct term for New York City as per this online source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_subdivisions_of_New_York_State

Here's an excerpt from that wikipedia article:

..."New York City is a special case. The city consists of the entire area of five counties. These counties retain a small amount of governance as boroughs. Under the state legislation, commonly called Consolidation, that allowed the city (as the City of Greater New York) to annex huge areas beyond its original borders (including smaller cities, towns and villages) in 1898, the State of New York retains certain powers over the city. At the time of Consolidation, Queens County was split between the western towns, which voted to join the city, and those that did not. The next year (1899), the eastern towns of Queens County separated to become Nassau County."

-snip-

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania there are specific formally identifable & identified neighborhoods within the city proper. And different sections of these neighborhods have their own names with which they are more informally identified. My understanding is that most sections of the city were once autonomous towns that joined together at some point in time-though probably not all at the same time-to form the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Due to a particular township's decision to join or not join the city of Pittsburgh-and also due to the topography of the area which is separated by rivers and joined by bridges and highways-it's possible to drive outside of Pittsburgh through other towns or boroughs and then continue "straight" ahead and once again re-enter Pittsburgh.

The neighborhoods that comprise Pittsburgh aren't called boroughs, and unlike New York City, besides members of city council and school board members who are supposed to represent that community's interests, these communities have no administrative authority.

**

Thanks, also Rowan, for the explanation about England, GB, and UK.
I'm still influenced by almost 5 decades old high school book learnin which is really faulty in our changing world. For instance, I didn't know that "the UK is rarely described as "Great Britain" these days".

Good ole Mudcat! You can always learn something here.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 02:36 AM

Azizi, when describing urban localities in the US you used several terms to refer to them, including Subsections", "Neighbourhood" & "Borough". I suspect only the latter two are 'formal' and guess most British and Oz 'catters would be familiar with the terms because of the tsunami of American cultural material in our cinemas (called film theatres by older Australians) and on the telly.

My impression is that those in the UK (rarely describable as "Great Britain" these days) would probably use those terms only rarely and more commonly say "suburb" if informally describing an urban locality with its own name, and might refer to County or Shire if describing a more rural locality with its own name. If giving the formal name of a Municipality or Local Govt Area they probably have even more specific terminology.

NSW & Sydney started with a very English approach to such nomenclature so there "are" Counties but only a couple get referred to as such in colloquial use, but cadastral (municipal) maps will refer to both Parish and County as descriptors; I've only heard "Parish" used (in naming a locality) to refer to church boundaries and then only to Anglican or Catholic churches. And even the term Anglican instead of Episcopalian because of how the latter term is used in the SE US. "Suburb" is the usual term for an urban area with its own name in most of Oz.

Outside the original settlement area of greater Sydney, rural Local Govt Areas (Municipalities) with one or only a couple of small townships would be called "Shires" and only be regarded as a "City" if the township had more than 10,000 people (at least it used to be like that in Victoria) and, although they might be large enough to have differently named subsections, such subsections often had no formal nomenclature.

Confused? Join the club.

UK, GB, England etc?
It depends on how polite you want to be. It's never a good idea to refer to anywhere outside England (but part of the British Isles) as "England"; most denizens will be most snaky at such treatment. They may be more accepting of being called "British", depending on their politics but context is everything. Aussies have a reputation of enjoying stirring the Poms but some of us have learned how to be nice. Some of the time, anyway. UK is the usual last bit you'd put on an envelope you're sending by snail mail, much the way USA is the last bit for sending to that part of America north of the Rio Grande but south of the 39th parallel.

And the locality descriptor you call a Zip Code, the Poms and us call a Post Code.

Hope this is helpful.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 02:02 AM

Hey, JennyO!

LOL!!! I figured that question would pop up sooner rather than later.

But, who was that masked man, anyway?

:o}}

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: JennyO
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 12:12 AM

I think about half of the suburbs of Sydney in Australia have names that came from the UK. I didn't realise how many till I went over to London one year. Yes, we have a Camden too - it's a town/city way out of Sydney that has become swallowed up by the city sprawl and has now become more of an outer suburb of Sydney.

I still have a tape player in my car. I keep the tapes in a nice deep area between the seats, and quite often there is one in the tape player.   They have never been affected by heat - and here our cars can get extremely hot in summer. I did melt a tape once when I accidentally left it on the dashboard. That or the parcel shelf would be asking for trouble. Not sure about CDs but I suspect pretty much the same would apply with them.

Meanwhile, I don't think anyone's answered this question yet -

Who Put The Bomp In the Bomp-Shoo-Bomp-Shoo-Bomp?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Mickey191
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 11:41 PM

AZIZI, CDs a thing of the past.....Oh. In a box I have 8tracks.My wonderful collection of cassette tapes (about 250) which I still play in the house. Now you say CDs are soon to be old hat. This is just a racket that makes us spend our money. I didn't know I could have gotten a gizmo that would play cassettes & CDs. Damn!   

So now I have to study up on MP3s. 'Tis a bit disheartening.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Rowan
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 07:09 PM

leenia, if you used a black cloth in Oz the way you described, the heat inside the car would rapidly become intolerable. Even in Tasmania, the part of settled Oz furthest away from the equator. I recall a fiddle player who left his fiddle in its (black) case on the parcel shelf (under the rear window) of his sedan for a while. When he later opened the case he found he had a complete fiddle kit; all he had to do was assemble the parts.

In Oz, we spread highly reflective screens, inside the windscreen across the full width of the car, to reduce heat entry into the car.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 07:02 PM

Thanks to all who have posted thus far to this thread!

Most of the questions I asked have been answered.

I asked about the meaning of the word "naff" and found a definition for it here:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/naff


naff 1(nf)
adj. Chiefly British Slang
Unstylish, clichéd, or outmoded.

[Possibly of dialectal origin.]

naff 2(nf)
intr.v. naff·ed, naff·ing, naffs Chiefly British Slang
To fool around or go about: "naffing about in a tutu" Suzanne Lowry.
Phrasal Verb:
naff off
Used in the imperative as a signal of angry dismissal.

[Origin unknown.]

**

I had also asked whether it's still correct to say London, England or is the proper form now London, Great Britain or London, United Kingdom.

Also, I had asked what were the names of different sections or boroughs of London. I was wondering what were the names of specific communities within the city. For instance, New York City, New York {USA} is divided into Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Harlem, Queens, Bedford Styvesand {mispelled I'm sure} and probably other distinct neighborhoods whose names I can't remember. When I went to college with a woman from New York City, and someone asked her where she was from, she didn't say "New York City", but instead gave the name of the borough that she lived in. Actually, she was from Flatbush which I think was a subsection of Brooklyn but I might be wrong about that.

I suppose this is the case with all large cities. My adopted city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a number of neighborhoods such as The Hill, Homewood, East Liberty,Lawrenceville, Shadyside, Manchester, Mount Washington, Downtown, and Oakland-to name a few of Pittsburgh's distinct neighborhoods.

In reference to London and Camden, it occured to me how many American cities are named after cities {or subsections of cities} in England and other parts of Europe.

For instance, I only know of Bristol because of the 1960s or so R&B dance "The Bristol Stomp". It was from reading Mudcat threads that I realized that Bristol is an English city. {or a British city, or a city in the UK}...Sorry if I'm saying this wrong.

Should I be this worried that my choice of words will offend people?

Truly, I mean no harm.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 06:43 PM

About those melting CD's and tapes - I make it a habit to drape a dark cloth over my windshield on a hot day. It goes on the outside, to prevent solar gain from light going through the glass. There's enough cloth to pinch in the doors and go under the wipers, so as to hold it in place.

At an auto parts place I ordered plastic guards that go over the tops of the windows. They make it possible to keep the windows open a bit so heat can go out and rain won't get it.

Without these things, the interior would get so hot that I can't touch the steering wheel. Such heat does a lot of damage to upholstery as well as to CD's.
===
Joe, to answer your question 'What is folk music?' - it is any music you can perform while wearing a plaid shirt.

Is there anything else you needed to know?

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: TheSnail
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 06:24 PM

The Carribean festival in London is the Notting Hill Carnival.

I would have thought that London didn't need to have any qualification at all having been the only one for about 1400 years.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Becca72
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 05:40 PM

According to egullet.com, bread and butter pickles are named such because during the Depression, they were as regular a part of a diet as bread and butter. The difference between bread and butter pickles and sweet pickles is just a few ingredients. Sweet pickles use cinnamon, cloves, and allspice in a vinegar-sugar brine. Bread and butter pickles are made with turmeric. mustard, and onion in a vinegar-sugar brine.

Don't know if this is the "real scoop" though, DaveO

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 05:28 PM

Agghhh!

:o))

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 05:11 PM

So, what IS folk music, anyhow?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 05:08 PM

My Beautiful Wife is very fond of bread-and-butter pickles. In case anyone doesn't recognize that term, they are sliced sweet dill(ish) pickles. I'm not an admirer of sweet pickles, but that's not the point.

But why "bread-and-butter pickles"?   There's no bread about them, nor is there any butter.

Does anyone know why they are so called?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Amos
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 03:39 PM

A Gene Autry Chord Change was a plastic box with buttons on it which turned a stringed instrument (guitar or ukelele) into a sort of autoharp by damping the correct strings -- it was attached to plastic guitars with a picture of the famous singing cowboy from the Fifties, Gene Autry, painted on them. The chord changer did not work all that well.

IIRC.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 03:36 PM

CD's can melt in a car. So can cassettes. I have had both occur. but never *in* the player.

But you know it got warm in the car when you come back and a CD is curved around the edge of your passenger seat.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 03:32 PM

Mickey191,

I'm so old fashioned that I don't have a CD player in my car. When I bought my car five years ago I had a lot of casette music tapes but few music CDs. So I asked the car dealer to take out the CD player that came with the car and instead put in a casette tape player. I realized afterwards that I should have insisted on having both, but it would have been extra money that I didn't have.

So I've lived without a car CD player. And it really hasn't been that much of a hardship to be without a car CD player. That said, I have some second hand experience with car CD players, because my daughter has had a shuffle CD player in her car for years one. So I asked an expert-my daughter :o) about whether CDs would be damaged by remaining in a hot car. And-just as I thought-she said that heat doesn't damage CDs that are left in a car CD player.

I tried to google this question, but couldn't find much about CDs and cars. This may be because car CD players are just about a thing of the past. The "hot" thing now is Mp3 players.

See this excerpt from http://hardlikesoftware.com/weblog/2007/03/16/a-box-to-put-my-music-in/ :

"...I want my music player to be as simple as a box. A special box that when you put music in it you will hear the music. A CD player is pretty close. You push a button and a tray opens. Put a CD in it, push the tray closed and it plays. A car CD player is even better just stick a CD in the slot and it plays. Push a button to get it out.

But these days CDs are old news and CD players are single purpose (don't put a Pop Tart brand toaster pastry in your CD player). MP3s are where its at. I want my MP3 player to work like a box. This box doesn't hold physical things from the real world but virtual things, digital information in the form of music or anything else"...

-snip-

My daughter has had an Ipod for almost two years now. As a matter of fact she just upgraded to an Ipod that can hold many more songs than her previous one. And she gave me her old Ipod. So I guess I've got to figure out how to use it. I'm looking forward to it.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Mickey191
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 10:25 AM

Since I now have a car that plays CDs-I'm wondering if they can melt if left in the car on a very hot day. Interior temps, they say, can get up to 120 degrees. If it's okay--is it verboten to leave one _in_ the player? Thanks in advance.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 10:14 AM

Not discounting the thread, Azizi; just pointing out on of the benefits of membership and of PM's.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: ClaireBear
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 10:06 AM

According to Rich Holmes' "Normal Person's Guide to the Morris", a side is: "(1) A morris team. (2) Enough of a team to make a set."

Both morris teams I've been on (berkeley and Apple Tree) have numbered around 30 at their high points, but even then on any gioven day (depending on the nature of the event we were planning to attend) might be able to field only a "side" of eight or ten -- enough for one set (6 dancers in a set, for most dances) and a few spares, but NOT enough to ensure that nobody had to dance two dances in a row.

Hope that helps.

Claire

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Bert
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 10:03 AM

Camden Town is in London, near Regent's Park and is the home of Cecil Sharp House the English Folk Song place. A must visit place for Catters visiting London.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 09:49 AM

MMario, yes, folks who are members could pm {private message} another Mudcatter member if they have an off-topic question that comes to mind as a result of what that member wrote.

But a} everybody who posts here aren't members

and b} sometimes other people might be interested in a sidebar conversation that could result from an off topic question. Therefore, the person asking the question has another option to ask those questions-and read the response to their questions-in this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 09:42 AM

I've always read "side" for Morris Dancers as being the technical term for "team, group, set" whatever. Especially since frequently used with the proper name of the group.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 09:37 AM

On this thread about Morris dancing thread.cfm?threadid=103732&messages=27 "Morris segregation" the term "Morris sides" was frequently used.

Is a Morris side the same thing as a group or a team of Morris dancers? And is there any particular reason why the word "side" being used for these dance groups?

**

I think it was on that same thread that someone used the word "naff". What does that word mean? I sensed that it wasn't complimentary.

**

On the "Lyr Req: Playground songs" thread thread.cfm?threadid=18352&messages=35 GUEST,Jonny Sunshine wrote that
"Some years back there was a project in Camden (that's in London UK) which collected children's songs from around the world all rfom children in schools in the borough: Camden World Song project"

Before reading that comment, the only Camden I had ever heard of is Camden, New Jersey, which is across the bridge from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My question is this-is the Camden that Jonny Sunshine referred to a section of London? What are some other sections of London-for instance, isn't there a neighborhood of London which has an annual Caribbean festival? What is that section's name?

And btw, I notice that Jonny Sunshine wrote "London, UK". Is it incorrect to say "London, England" now?

**

Here's a thread that I found which asks this question "How do I make music without my left hand?" thread.cfm?threadid=12106#93939

Here's a post from that thread:

Subject: RE: How do I make music without my left hand?
From: Night Owl - PM
Date: 10 Jul 99 - 12:30 PM

I know that it's a risky business to ask a Mudcatter for a definition, ;o) BUT....Danielspiritsong...what's a Gene Autry chordchanger????

-snip-

I guess that question about the Gene Autry chordchanger was answered in that thread, but I'm not sure. But scanning that thread, I saw that Mudcat members shared information about various instruments that can be played without the musician using his or her left hand, and in doing so gave lots of information about little known instruments like the tabor pipe, glockenspiel, the melodica, didgeridoo, and bones.   

That thread looks real interesting to me. I'll check it out later.

Subject: RE: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 09:04 AM

Just want to point out that some situations are *ideal* for popping off a PM to someone with the OT question or if you don't want to ask the question "in public".

The one thing I don't think people need to worry about is "too trivial" - we are talking on a forum that has had deep involved discussions on how many spatulas one owns. *grin*

Subject: BS: Infrequently Asked Questions
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 08:58 AM

Questions, I got questions. And I bet other people do too.

Mudcat already has a Frequently Asked Questions thread. This thread is for infrequently-or never before-asked questions.

Sometimes reading Mudcat threads is like eavesdropping on a converation. Sometimes I have a question about something someone wrote but I don't ask it because to do so would be too disruptive to the discussion. There are other times I wanna ask a question that pops into my head but I don't ask it because I figure that everybody but me probably knows the answer. And sometimes I ask a slightly, or really off-topic question anyway. But the question doesn't get answered -maybe because it got lost in the conversation or maybe because folks considered it to be too trivial. Well, some questions are trivial, but trivial is not necessarily the same thing as dumb, right? Besides Trivial Pursuits is a game and some folks-including me-like to gather information about all kinds of miscellaneous subjects just to satisfy our curiousity.

On this thread folks can ask all the trivial questions or slightly off-topic questions, or really off-topic questions they want to. And hopefully folks will respond on this thread to those questions in the spirit they were given-that is to say-with knowledgeable, intelligent-and not necessarily "smart"-remarks.

This thread could also be used as a repository for links to other Mudcat threads on the general or specific topic that a person is wondering about. If there's a Mudcat thread or post from a thread that also answers a question posed, and provides additional information about that question, it would also be great if the name of that thead-and ideally, a link to that thread or that post-would be provided in this thread.

This thread may also be used to point out other threads on miscellaneous topics that you remember or you found by "surfing the Mud"-Mudcat that is.

In other words, this thread is for inquiring minds who wanna know stuff that other folks may not think is important. Btw, I looked for a previous thread like this, but couldn't find one. If there is already a thread like this, hopefully someone will provide a link to it.

In my next post, I'll start off with a couple of questions and a link to what I consider an interesting Mudcat thread which started off with one infrequently asked question and includes responses to that question which provide not-easy-to-find-in-one-place information about various musical instruments.

Join in if you have a mind to.

Thanks in advance for the answers to these questions!